Shen Yun Performing Arts Show in SF - Totally Misleading

Shen Yun... you've seen it literally on nearly every Muni bus, shopping mall kiosks, full page ads in newspapers, and they justify that they are a great program by selling tickets for orchestra level at $100 a pop and only being in town for just a week.

The reality is, ain't worth your money and your time.

I saw it today and I feel duped.

Why do I feel duped? When people see the ads for Shen Yun Performing Arts, it seems like the show is all about dancing and showing the cultural history of the Chinese people. It's like the greatest show spectacle around if they can dish out tons of dough on tons of bus ads, signage, promotions, and mall kiosks. Heck, they were even promoting the San Francisco show at the Great Mall in Milpitas with an aisle kiosk.

That's until I got my ticket. My folks paid for the tickets so I got one in my hand at the moment I was to enter the War Memorial Opera House, and it said: "SF Falun Buddha Study Association presents..." and I was intrigued if it was being supported by Falun Gong/Falun Dafa or maybe just some organization that has a name similar to Falun Gong.

I shrugged it off and went to my $100 seat in the orchestra section.

Then the show begins, the first few parts was interesting, showing their dances and cultural history; that was until they started force feeding the audience with politics and religion. Surely enough, the hosts of the show was talking about Falun Gong and people getting persecuted; and even simulations of people clubbing Falun Gong practitioners.

Once it hit that, it started getting awkward to be watching the show. What the hell did I spend my $100 on? Why didn't the advertising tell me that it's just a show to help promote politics and religion? Did I get the bait and switch? Was I duped? I sure was. Then the stories of prosecution and beatings kept going in other acts mixed with acts with nothing mentioning or relating to Falun Gong.

To give you something similar: Ever been in a situation that made you real uncomfortable?

I remember going to a church service for a five year anniversary of my late grandmother's passing away because my parents made me go, I felt almost immediately very uncomfortable and literally stormed out of the building almost in tears. It wasn't because I did not respect the church or its religion, I just didn't feel like I belonged there; I felt like a fool trying to say the verses out of the song book, and being pressured be indoctrinated into a religion I had no interest in. My parents was pissed, and I told them why I didn't want to be there; all I wanted to do was to pay my respects by putting flowers in my grandmother's niche in Colma. My parents respected my reasons and my wishes, and I visit my grandmother's niche every few weeks with a fresh bouquet of flowers.


What Shen Yun did was cram stuff down my throat, and making it worse, I paid them $100 to do it. They were misleading. If you brought your kids to see that show, they would be asking you why the heck are people hitting other people with batons? Is it appropriate for the young ones? No.

I wonder why the show tickets was so expensive and they only stay for a very brief period; once people finds out about being force fed the politics and religion, and being mislead through their advertising; they are long gone (with your money). Newspapers would review the first night's show and likely there would be some negative publicity, and be published the next day; but thousands of tickets was purchased before the show even came to town, and are non-refundable, and the rumor mill of the regular people telling others it ain't worth it is pointless because with such a brief time at each city, they are already on their next stop. If they did shows non-stop for a month in one location, they would barely sell any tickets after just a couple of weeks.

I've got nothing against freedom of speech and religion, but if you don't tell people what you are selling, you are just duping them and you get a lot of people pissed off. At least I know that if I am going to a funeral, some type of religion will be embraced; Shen Yun on the other hand didn't tell me they will be talking about Falun Gong and the Chinese government busting their ass on the stage; I was expecting some wonderful dancing and promotion of the Chinese heritage.

And to take it home, I sat through the whole show, even though it really felt awkward; but the six people sitting on my left, didn't come back to their seats after intermission.

Best one hundred dollars spent... fuck.

Akit Already Knows Muni Won't Take Action Against an 18-46th Avenue Driver - So I Will Just Report it Here

When you ride Muni on a regular basis and strictly follow the time schedule, it's likely your bus operator will be the same person. This is especially true for me when I take the 18-46th Avenue line because it operates on 20 minute frequencies during rush hours.

But when you ride with the same driver, you start to notice certain patterns that are just inappropriate, and I finally got fed-up enough to call 311 and report the driver for poor practices. But as we well know, reporting problems to Muni just gets ignored, so I'm deciding to take another step and use the power of my blog to get a wider audience.

Before I tell you about what happened, did you know that in order for Muni to take action against a bus driver, the union rules states that you have to surrender your name and contact information? I usually call 311 and just state I refuse to provide that info, but without it, Muni can't do shit.

Here's the whole story:
Bus: 8417
Line: 18-46th Avenue inbound (to Legion of Honor)
Time: Bus leaves at 6PM at Stonestown (outbound terminal for 18 line)
Driver #: Not known
Description of driver: African American male, thin build, in his 40s.

First incident: Stop at Lake Merced & Font (SF State)
I normally ride the 6:05PM bus arrival at that particular stop because it's just a short walk from my office and it takes me close to my home in the Outer Richmond District. The same driver always picks up passengers 50 feet ahead of the yellow mark on the pavement that indicates the bus must stop there to pick-up passengers.

To make it even more amusing, I flagged the driver by standing near the yellow mark as it was about 200-300 feet away, enough time for the driver to gently hit his brake and hazard lights, but every single time, pulls fifty feet ahead of the yellow mark, thereby forcing any passenger waiting there to rush over to the front door.

Here's a streetsview map from Google:

View Larger Map

On the map image, you'll see a bench on the right side, and just in front of it on the pavement is the yellow mark indicating it's a bus stop for the 18 line. All other Muni operators who drives on this line always stops very close to the yellow mark and the bench, but the regular driver of the 6PM bus doesn't; that driver pulls up to where you see the green "Font" sign, about fifty feet ahead of the bench/yellow mark.

Second incident: Stop at La Playa & Cabrillo
The bus stop at La Playa & Cabrillo next to the Safeway supermarket is a really long bus stop of about 400-500 feet, and the passenger shelter is in the middle of the long bus stop. This stop is so big because back in the day, Muni used that long red zone as a terminus for the 38-Geary Ocean Beach branch, and those articulated buses are a good 60 feet long. These days, it's not used as a terminus stop because Muni built a terminal area for the 5-Fulton and 31-Balboa in an empty lot just across the street, and the 38-Geary Ocean Beach branch doesn't exist ever since the 18 line was forced to take over that route.

View Larger Map

Since the bus stop is so huge, the same driver always decides to pull to the very front end of the bus stop, this means the people sitting or standing near the passenger shelter has to walk about 50-75 feet just to catch this particular bus. When I ride at other times with other drivers, they stop as close to the shelter as possible, and that even includes the 31-Balboa. A lot of times, the passengers are mostly senior citizens carrying grocery bags, and making them rush to catch a bus that pulled 75 feet in front is just rude and disrespectful.

Here's what made it worse. Yesterday, the driver did the same tactic: Pull the bus to the front end of the bus stop (very close to where that white truck is). Nobody wanted to exit the bus (did not ring bell), and there was about three people sitting in the shelter. The driver slowed down upon approach to the front end of the stop, and I noticed in the window, two people standing-up wanting to catch the bus when they saw it. The driver assumed nobody wanted to board, so he picked-up speed and continued on. I took off my headphones and hollered at the driver, "wasn't there people who wanted to board?" I got no response.

By this point, I was fed-up with this driver. He doesn't give any respect to passengers pulling-up close to the passenger shelter at La Playa & Cabrillo and doesn't make an effort to stop at the yellow marking at Lake Merced & Font. Oh, but he'll allow any of his friends to board at any point along the route that's not a designated bus stop.

Now that I told my story online WILL MUNI TAKE SOME ACTION? It seems complaining to 311 just goes through the cycle of nowhere.

Riding Muni is Going to be More Expensive Starting July 1st

Oh Muni... the system that keeps going in the red while the union whinos keeps bickering about striking.

Well folks, the price of Muni is going up. For most of us, it will be an additional $24 a year to ride of the most depressing systems on earth. Or for you suckers using commuter benefits with direct loading of passes to your Clipper card, it's $48 a year ($24 in Muni hikes, and $24 in commuter benefit service fees).

Let's see the changes. Starting July 1, 2011:

• Adult passes will be raised by $2. "A" fast pass will go up to $72 a month, and "M" Muni only pass will go up to $62 a month.
• Youth, senior, disabled, and lifeline passes will be raised by $1. Y/S/D passes goes to $21, and lifeline goes to $31.
• Cable car prices goes up $1. Single ride will go up to $6 and on-board purchased day-pass goes to $14, and late night/early morning disabled & senior fare goes up to $3.
  
• All visitor passport books goes up $1.
• Special service fares goes up $1 and $2. Adults will pay $12 (from $10), Y/S/D pays $10 (from $9), and those with a valid Muni pass pays $8 (from $7).

What won't change:

• Basic cash fares for Muni will still stay the same. $2 for adults and 75 cents for the rest.

For the complete list of changes starting July 1, 2011, click here (PDF file).

Lastly, a PSA for all youth and senior Muni passengers: Paper passes will not exist starting June 1, 2011. Get a specialized Clipper card NOW. Slacking off = FAIL.

MTC and Clipper Keeps Quiet About $2 Monthly Fee for Commuter Benefit Users

The Metropolitan Transportation Commission has been an advocate for Clipper card users to end the annoying $2 monthly fee for commuter benefit users who requests for direct monthly loading of passes, e-cash, and ridebooks (not vouchers and debit cards).

This $2 has been going on for many months with no news, but the MTC and Clipper folks have very quietly posted an update on April 11th about the situation.

Since the MTC and Clipper wants to be sneaky and not grab the attention of the public and mass media, I'm going to bang on the pots and pans to tell you what's going on.

The $2 monthly fee was imposed by Clipper (not MTC) to all commuter benefit companies if customers requested to the benefit company to have their pass, e-cash, or ridebooks loaded directly to their card, thereby there is no need for a plastic debit card or paper vouchers. It was up to the benefit companies if they wanted to absorb the costs or pass on the $2 to the customers.

The MTC (via Clipper's website) has quietly informed the public of an update, the policy WON'T CHANGE. That's right, the fee will still exist; this means, for some people, you may have an automatic $2 fee imposed against your commuter benefit account.

The alternatives to not being charged the fee is simple: Request a paper voucher that is valid at many in-person Clipper add value locations, or request a special debit card which is good at all Clipper automated machines, transit agency ticketing offices, ClipperCard.com, and Clipper's customer service centers at Embarcadero BART/Muni station and Bay Crossings at the Ferry Building.

For those who uses Clipper's own commuter benefits program, known as "Clipper Direct," they will not impose the $2 monthly fee.

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Akit's Opinion:

I thought the MTC was on our side (the card users) to kill off this incredibly stupid monthly fee. The most convenient way to have passes, e-cash, and ridebooks loaded to our Clipper card accounts from commuter benefit agencies, is now the most annoying way to do it because it now costs us $24 a year.

Okay, fine, we'll use the paper vouchers and debit cards to get around it (for free)... but that's not eco friendly. Paper vouchers costs money to produce by killing trees, and the labor it takes to cut the checks, stuff them, and pay for postage to mail it to customers. Debit cards are a little more eco friendly as they only send one card that's good for many years, but it's just another piece of plastic to carry around.

How low can the MTC go? Makes me sick.

Fox's Hole in the Wall - Not Amusing

So the Fox TV network gets the rights to Japan's TV program known as "Brain Wall." If you ever watched the Japanese version on YouTube, you now that the program is quite popular to watch, even if you don't know Japanese.

The Japanese version:


So I'm watching this new American version right now on Fox and I have to say... this one sucks.

This program is only 30 minutes long, and minus the commercials doesn't make it much air time.

• The scoring system is too low since it only a single point system. They should use something bigger like 25 points per success to make it look more enticing.
• They do use some of the same sound effects as the Japanese program, but the American version should have shown the scene where after the three second countdown, they raise the curtain to show the piece, but instead they do the countdown and the next screen cut shows the wall in motion. Literally, we don't hear and see the reaction of the contestants before the wall goes in motion.
  
• The hosts suck, especially the female hostess. All she does is YELL. That male host is just annoying.
• The competitors were allowed to comment, but also should joke around more. The Japanese version uses a lot of the same people, but are encouraged to crack jokes and pull pranks on their team members (i.e. shove them back in the pool).

Even the Australian version looks quite good than the American version:

KRON 4 is DEAD!

KRON channel 4 in San Francisco is being put up to sale! I knew it! The station has always sucked since they lost their NBC affiliation.

I always knew that these factors caused their death:

• VJ style news (don't use spell check and can't even get Snoop Dogg's face in the camera).
• Jan Whal's hats suck
• What the hell is "My Network TV?" It's just a network still running on meth.
• Henry's garden? What kind of shit is this?
• Rob Black? Financial loser.
• Dr. Phil, a bullshit doctor.

So, when is the funeral? Call the morgue!

Read articles here: SFist and SFgate (Chronicle)

The New American Gladiators - Steroids?

I'm right now watching that new American Gladiators program on NBC hosted by Hulk Hogan and that Ali chick.

Does anyone notice that these so called "Gladiators" (including the women) might be on steroids? The challengers aint buff, but those Gladiators look like our current list of professional wrestlers, known to take steroids. The co-host, Ali is a boxer, and she aint buff because you can't box legally on steroids.

Um... it should be noted that there's already been two injuries on this program, including the first women's event. What great editing NBC.

KRON Bleeds the Earthquake News to Death

As you local Bay Area folks know, there was a level five earthquake that hit just after 8PM. Interestingly, I didn't feel it here in San Francisco, although one of my co-workers mentioned about it briefly after the end of my workday.

So, I get home, and I turn on the TV because I'm a little stressed and tired. Since we lived in earthquake country, an earthquake here or there may just put a little ten minute "breaking news" report on the channels, in which they did, and the occasional scroll bar on the top of the tube; yet there was one station that really pissed me off.

If you read my blogs, you know the TV news station I hate the most, KRON. They were the only station that kept bleeding the news from at least 8PM, and now it's 11PM, and it's time for their regular 11PM news broadcast.

When I say "bleeding the news," I mean, they were trying to squeeze every single thing out of the damn news. Hey, IT'S JUST A FUCKING EARTHQUAKE! Things get broken here and there, but there's no fire, no panic, no deaths reported, so why did KRON just send the TV news straight to hell?

Oh I get it, you get people to send photographs on the air, and have stupid hicks call LIVE on TV so that they can get their 15 minutes of fame to mention their "story" (which I don't honestly give a fuck). Like many of us would say "just the facts ma'am;" but it seems that KRON DIDN'T GIVE A SHIT.

I might HATE KRON, but the only two interesting programs that I watch on a Tuesday night is "The Academy" (LA Sheriffs academy school for wusses to become cops), and "Jail" (recycled stuff from Court TV about the jail system). It's interesting reality stuff, especially when I'm not into repeats of Law and Order. So by running their LAME earthquake coverage for THREE STRAIGHT HOURS, I DID NOT get to see that new episode of "The Academy" that I've been waiting for.

CAN SOMEONE PLEASE SLAP THE NEWS PRODUCERS OF THIS STATION?

AND YES, I WILL STILL SAY IT: KRON NEWS STILL SUCKS, AND ROB BLACK (THE STUPID FINANCIAL JACKASS WHO RUINED THE 4PM NEWS) SHOULD BE FIRED.

Would you crank call KRON's Rob Black show?

Here's an amusing thing you can do to get that annoying "a-hole" Rob Black off KRON4 (KRON Channel 4) off of television.

When his telephone number shows-up on the screen during his 4PM broadcast (which is SUPPOSED TO BE THE NEWS, NOT FINANCIAL CRAP!), just call it, and try to pass the screener that you want to ask about something like investments or trying to pay off that loan quicker.

Then, when he does answer LIVE on the air, act like you are intelligent to ask the question, and then yell out something like "ROB BLACK, YOU SUCK!" "KRON 4 SUCKS WITHOUT NBC, AND YOU TOO!" or how about "MY NETWORK-TV SUCKS, SO DO YOU BLACK!"

Why do I hate KRON 4 and Rob Black? Read here.

Rob Black is this annoying jackass on KRON that ruined the reputation of the 4PM news, which is supposed to be all news, not financial bla bla bla crap for 20 minutes.

Let me summarize my rants:
I do not encourage anyone to crank call, it's just for entertainment purposes only... (cough...)
Rob Black still sucks
KRON sucks even more, who wants to watch people beat-up each other and see lousy dramas?